Transgender athletes Lia Thomas and Valentina Petrillo have responded to Elon Musk’s explosive call for a global boycott of sporting events that allow biological males to compete in women’s categories. The tech giant’s comments, which have been widely seen, have sparked a backlash in the sports and LGBTQ+ communities.
In a pointed explanation, NCAA swimming master Lia Thomas, whose participation in women’s races at the national level made messages to hate heights under the quality of equity”.
“Elon Musk is not a sports authority. He’s a billionaire who wages a culture war behind a screen,” Thomas said. “Transmen don’t reveal themselves. We are athletes who train, compete and feel at home.”
Even Italian Paralympian Valentina Petrillo, Europe’s first trans woman to compete in athletics, condemned Musk’s remarks, calling them “dangerous, dehumanizing and driven by fear, not facts.”
“This kind of rhetoric is a threat to human life,” Petrillo warned. “It promotes discrimination and undermines everything that sport stands for: inclusion, resilience and respect.”
According to the boycott of the competitions, the backlash has reached X (formerly Twitter), “which allows biological men to throw women off the podium” and has suggested serious sanctions for what it describes as “gender fraud” in the sport.
While some conservative commentators and supporters of Musk’s position have welcomed it, critics claim his comments ignore the complexity of the issue and continue to stigmatize an already vulnerable group.
Leading LGBTQ+ rights groups have called on sponsors and sports organizations to make musky statements about their status. Meanwhile, several transgender athletes have reported a spike in harassment and abuse online since the alumni posts went viral.
Despite the protests, Musk doubled down on his efforts, tweeting Monday night:
If this insults anyone, maybe you should rethink the importance of fairness in sports. I will not apologize for telling the truth.
As the debate reaches a new level of hostility, sports associations around the world are now facing yet another pressure to take a stand one way or another.
